Is day trading profitable?

I have to disagree with some of the posts here, with all due respect. .

As someone who has day traded the markets in an automated/algorithmic fashion for years, I’d have to say that it is most certainly not easy to make money day trading. I think the statistics back this up, indicating that the vast majority of those that attempt to do so lose more money than they earn (what other profession could this be said for?), and many can devote months, even years, and still wind up chasing their tails, spinning their wheels, getting nowhere.

Consistently successful day trading requires several skills to master. Most are learned, and I’ve come to believe some may be innate, both in discretionary trading, and automated/systematic trading. For discretionary traders, there’s more at play than just skillsets. . mentality and psychology is absolutely crucial. You must strive to be practically emotionless, and be willing to walk away from trading for the day the moment this changes. You must only trade actively during the periods of the day in which you feel focused, alert, clear headed. You must be intellectual disciplined, and willing to undergo the study and research and examination of charts required. You should seek a mentor or two whose abilities (and track record) are worthy of implicit trust (this doesn’t need to be someone you converse with face to face. . Linda Raschke is a good example, off the top of

my head, of someone you could learn from, from afar). .

Anyone can day trade, and nearly anyone can day trade ‘successfully’ over short periods of time. However, I’ve seen people flip coins and get heads’10 times out of 10. . . even still I wouldn’t consider them skilled coin flippists (trademarking this word!). If they managed to flip ‘heads’ even 55% of the time, over thousands of flips over a period of months, I’d start to pay close attention. . . and this is the crux of what separates the real skill from the rest, namely long term, proven consistency. These rarefied heights are glimpsed by few, the washout rate is immense.

You might reasonably ask, why even attempt?

The risks are great, in terms of likelihood of failure (and financial loss, if you’re not the prudent/cautious sort). . . but with great risk, as is so often the case, comes the potential for great rewards. Especially in the futures market where one can trade using leverage, there is no more efficient means to put your money to work for you, or against you. I’ve seen account sizes doubled in weeks, then doubled again within a few weeks after that, and doubled again in a few weeks after that. . . this is not a jest, these things can, and do, happen. The nature of day trading is such that, if you truly do find a winning formula (and especially if this formula is systematic, and can lead to the creation of automated trading strategies, but this is an entirely separate post for another time), you can simply scale it up greatly, and the sky is the limit. This is what makes day trading exciting to me, especially as a systematic trader. You’re not looking to make 10% on an investment over the next month, you’re looking to make 10% over the next half hour. . and then again, a short time later. . and again, and again. . this quickly compounds, and if you pursue the automated strategies route, you have the ability to have several trading strategies in play simultaneously. . and this is where the real fun begins.  So I guess the short, convoluted summary answer to your question is ‘no, but yes!

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